2024-03-18 13:24:07
5.4 million jobs remain closed to foreigners who are not citizens of the European Union, the equivalent of nearly one job in five in France. For the most part (4.1 million), these are public or parapublic service positions, but more than a million private sector jobs are also difficult to access for foreigners due to the required diploma or qualification requirements. a prior authorization procedure necessary to practice these professions.
Prohibited public sector jobs
4.1 million jobs are prohibited to non-European foreigners in the civil service and parapublic companies. European legislation, however, obliged States to open competitions for civil servants, but only to foreign citizens of Member States of the European Union. These competitions therefore always remain closed to other non-European foreigners who, for example, cannot become school teachers. They can, however, occupy certain positions as contract workers, that is to say as non-permanent agents. Their status is more precarious than that of “real” civil servants.
Only two categories of civil servants are open to all foreigners: hospital doctors and university teacher-researchers, representing 140,000 jobs. A large part of so-called “sovereignty” jobs (defense, taxes, police, diplomacy, etc.) remain completely closed to foreigners, even Europeans, by virtue of the law. The revision of the general civil service code in September 2022 did not remove the nationality conditions.
However, progress has been made: the statuses of the staff of RATP, manager of Parisian public transport, social security organizations and EDF-GDF (today Engie and GRDF), as well as the Post Office, have removed in 2001 and 2002 the nationality condition for the recruitment of their staff. Air France opened its doors to foreigners following its privatization in 2003. At SNCF, the elimination of recruitment for special railway worker status in 2020 gives access to nearly 120,000 jobs to foreigners born outside the European Union. The staff of the Banque de France, on the other hand, retain a status close to the civil service, with a nationality criterion for recruitment. Private education also continues to practice this exclusion of non-European foreigners.
| Public or parapublic jobs closed to foreigners Unit: in thousands |
|
|---|---|
| State administrations | 1 512 |
| Military | 312 |
| Territorial communities | 1 456 |
| Hospitals | 683 |
| Private education under contract with the State | 153 |
| Bank of France | 9 |
| Total civil servants and derived statuses | 4 125 |
Lecture : 1.5 million jobs in state administrations are closed to non-European foreigners.
Source : calculations by the Observatory of Inequalities according to the Ministry of the Civil Service, Banque de France, Caisse des Dépôts – 2022 data – © Observatory of Inequalities
Private sector professions closed to foreigners
Several professions in the private sector, often liberal, are not open to foreigners because only French diplomas are recognized. These are generally medical or legal professions. However, it is possible to exercise them with a foreign nationality, provided you have a French diploma or obtain an equivalence. A young foreigner who has studied in France can, for example, work as a dentist if he graduates from a French school. The process of recognizing a foreign diploma is very long, or even impossible depending on the profession. There are 26,000 doctors practicing with a foreign diploma out of more than 230,000 doctors in France, or 1,400 non-European lawyers out of 70,000 lawyers listed.
Since 2017, the IV license which authorizes the running of a bar and the sale of alcohol can be granted to a foreign person. But tobacconists (tobacco sellers) remain subject to a nationality condition, just as professions holding judicial police officer, civil status and ministerial powers (notaries, bailiffs, merchant navy ship captains) are limited to Europeans or nationals of a few countries offering by reciprocity the same advantages to French expatriates.
A parliamentary report in 2010 drew up a list of fifty professions closed to foreigners. Since then, only a dozen professions have been open to them, like insurance agents and, more recently, funeral directors or café-bar owners. The list below is not exhaustive but indicates the most important numerically.
| Main private sector professions closed to foreigners Unit: in thousands |
|
|---|---|
| Professions prohibited for non-European foreigners | |
| Tobacconists (tobacco stores) | 23 |
| Managers of security or detective companies | 6 |
| Notaries | 18 |
| Merchant Navy Officers | 12 |
| County court bailiff | 3 |
| Administrators and legal representatives | 0,5 |
| Professions where only French diplomas are authorized | |
| Nurses outside hospitals | 235 |
| Medical laboratory technicians | 54 |
| Opticians and eyewear makers | 42 |
| Medical electroradiology manipulators | 32 |
| Speech therapists | 29 |
| Psychomotor therapists and occupational therapists | 33 |
| Paramedics | 26 |
| Podiatrist-podiatrists | 13 |
| Dietitians | 16 |
| Orthoptistes | 6 |
| Hearing aid specialists | 4 |
| Professions subject to prior authorization to practice | |
| Doctors | 230 |
| Physiotherapists | 91 |
| Psychologists | 74 |
| Pharmacists | 73 |
| Lawyers | 70 |
| Dentists | 45 |
| Architects | 30 |
| Midwives | 24 |
| Accounting experts | 21 |
| Auditors | 11 |
| Veterinarians | 20 |
| Expert surveyors | 2 |
| Total | 1 243 |
Lecture : the 23,000 tobacconist jobs are not accessible to non-European foreigners.
Source : calculations by the Observatory of Inequalities according to the Ministry of Health, professional orders and unions – Data 2020-2022 – © Observatory of Inequalities
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